By Kath Noble The threats to senior academic and trade union leader Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri have been condemned by a wide range of individuals and institutions in the last week. picture Courtesy of: http://futa-sl.org/ He is a well known personality in Colombo. More importantly, as the representative of the national body of university teachers, he [...]
Archive of entries posted on 10th July 2012
We can have elections to Northern Provincial Council before deadline of September 2013 – Basil Rajapaksa
by Ayesha Zuhair Senior Advisor to the President and Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa, in an interview with the”Daily Mirror” , discusses the upcoming elections to three Provincial Councils and responds to some of the criticisms relating to the government’s management of the economy. Excerpts of the interview: Question: Could you explain the rationale [...]
Question of Land is Intimately Linked to the National Question in Sri Lanka
By Prof. N. Shanmugaratnam Opening Remarks by Professor N. Shanmugaratnam at the workshop on ‘Land Policy and Practices and the Political Process in Post-war Sri Lanka’, University of Oslo, 22 June 2012 I am thankful to the Norwegian Tamil Study Forum for inviting me to address this Workshop and am looking forward to listening to [...]
Opposition must shed differences and use Provincial Council polls as starting point to win free and fair elections for masses
by Karu Jayasuriya MP We wish to reiterate to the government to at least conduct the proposed provincial council elections according to the guidelines of the Commissioner of Elections and in a free and fair manner, if the government is not scared of the reflection of true public opinion. As already reported in the media [...]
Unless there are specific complaints and substantial evidence of wrong doing it is impossible to prosecute anyone
by Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Text of special address by Secretary Defence and Urban Development, Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the workshop for Sri Lankan ambassadors and heads of missions conducted by the Ministry of External Affairs at Sri Lanka Military Academy in Diyatalawa.) Good morning. During the course of this session, I will be speaking on the actions [...]
Tamil speaking citizens of Sri Lanka: Restoration of fractured confidence
By Hemantha Warnakulasuriya Two days after my first article, ‘Work is Worship’, Professor Charles Sarvan sent a response to a former colleague of mine at the Foreign Ministry. He very kindly forwarded the same to me and I to use the title he gave, ‘Restoration of the fractured confidence in Tamil Speaking in Sri Lanka.’ [...]
Father Herbert: From land of Mississippi to lagoon of the singing fish
by B. Nimal Veerasingham (American Jesuit missionary Priest Fr.Eugene John Herbert a native of Louisiana, USA who ushered in the renaissance of Basketball in Batticaloa was reported missing on August 15th 1990 after being seen last in Valaichenai) Though continents apart, New Orleans in a lot of ways brings memories of the Eastern Sri Lankan [...]
Shipping and tourism endangers Blue Whales off Southern Coast of Sri Lanka
By Camelia Nathaniel Sri Lanka’s southern coast is one of the busiest shipping paths in the world and ironically, it is also an area frequented by the fabled blue whales. In recent times there have been many instances where whales, having crossed paths with a ship’s passage, have been killed- or badly injured.
